Eugene Weekly : Movies : 11.24.10


.MOVIE LISTINGS | MOVIE REVIEW ARCHIVE | THEATER INFO

 

OPENING:

Burlesque: The preview for this movie is the most camp-tastic thing I have ever seen. And yes, I’ve watched Glee. Christina Aguilera plays a small-town girl who moves to L.A. and dreams of performing at the Burlesque Lounge. With Cher (of course!) and Stanley Tucci and Veronica Mars. No joke. PG-13. 100 min. Cinemark. VRC Stadium 15. (11/24)

Easy A: The charming Emma Stone (Superbad, Zombieland) stars as a teen who gets a new rep when she agrees to fib about getting busy with a classmate. The rumor mill has a field day, and then things get really complicated. Sweet but shallow, Easy A is fun while you’re watching but leaves an odd aftertaste. Stanley Tucci and Patricia Clarkson, however, are charming as our heroine’s kooky parents. PG-13. 92 min. Movies 12. (11/24) (9/23)

Faster: The Rock gets out of prison pissed off and looking to avenge the murder for which he was framed. Cops and hit men are after him, oh noes! With Billy Bob Thornton and Carla Gugino. R. 98 min. Cinemark. VRC Stadium 15. (11/24)

Heartbreaker: This bit of French frippery stars two very pretty people, Romain Duris and Vanessa Paradis, as, respectively, a dude who makes a living breaking up unhappy couples and the woman he’s hired to free from her engagement. The catch? She appears to be happy. Complicated and silly and kind of lacking a heart. Unrated. 104 min. Bijou. (11/24) See review this issue

Love and Other Drugs: Jake Gyllenhaal and Anne Hathaway star as two charming people falling accidentally in love with each other, or something; honestly, all I can tell is that he sells Viagra and they’re really charming together. And my grizzled old heart doesn’t have a lot of room for romantic comedies, OK? R. 113 min. Cinemark. VRC Stadium 15. (11/24)

Tangled: Yeah, it’s got a girl with really long hair, but this doesn’t really bear much resemblance to “Rapunzel,” does it? A bandit (Zachary Levi) hides out in a tower that’s home to a sassy girl (Mandy Moore) with a lot of magical hair. Wackiness ensues! PG. 100 min. Cinemark. VRC Stadium 15. (11/24)

Wuthering Heights: William Wyler’s 1939 adaptation of the classic story of Heathcliff and Cathy shows as part of the Behind the Lens seminar at 7 pm Tuesday, Nov. 30, at DIVA. $3.

You Again: Kristen Bell is a successful career woman virtually undone by the news that her brother is marrying her old high school rival. Wait, seriously? There must be more to this film, or KBell, Sigourney Weaver and Jamie Lee Curtis wouldn’t be in it. Right? PG. 105 min. Movies 12. (11/24)

 

CONTINUING: 

Alpha & Omega: In this animated tale, Hayden Panetierre and Justin Long voice Kate and Humphrey, two wolves who are trying to find their way home after being nabbed by park rangers. PG. 88 min. Movies 12.

Arcadia Lost: This film, produced in part by local Chambers Productions, follows two teenagers, a sullen young woman and a distant young man, who meet up with a “vagabond philosopher-drunk” (Nick Nolte) with whom they go on a journey toward Mount Parnassus. Bijou.

Despicable Me: Evil Gru (Steve Carell), who hides his lair in a tidy suburb, is planning to steal the moon. Three orphan girls need a dad. When these parties collide, wackiness is pretty much guaranteed to ensue. PG. Movies 12.

Due Date: Circumstances throw together Robert Downey Jr. (as a high strung father-to-be) and Zach Galifianakis (as an oddball aspiring actor) for a hijinks-plagued road trip. R. 95 min. Cinemark. VRC Stadium 15.

Expendables, The: Yet another film about a group of mercenaries trying to accomplish something that would be totally impossible — for any other group of men. And make no mistake: This movie is a frickin’ sausage fest. With Sylvester Stallone, Jason Statham, Mickey Rourke, Dolph Lundgren, Jet Li and Steve Austin. R. 103 min. Movies 12. 

Fair Game: Naomi Watts stars in this semi-biopic about Valerie Plame, the former CIA agent whose identity was revealed by White House officials. “Real-world political melodrama, with obvious good and bad guys, but intelligent and well acted,” said The New Yorker. PG-13. 106 min. VRC Stadium 15.

Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest, The: The Swedish adaptations of Stieg Larsson’s bestselling Millenium Trilogy come to a close with another tangled tale of murder, family secrets and lies. R. 148 min. Bijou. (11/18)

Grown Ups: Look, there are stupid movies, and then there are full-on assaults on your intelligence. If you want to watch some comics who fear for their relevance make fart jokes and run into trees, be my guest. With Adam Sandler, Chris Rock, Kevin James and David Spade. PG-13. 102 min. David Minor Theater.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 1: The finale begins, dark and smart, with Harry (Daniel Radcliffe) and company on the run from Voldemort (Ralph Fiennes ) and in search of the talismans that will help them defeat the dark lord for good. PG-13. 150 min. Cinemark. VRC Stadium 15. See review this issue.

Inception: The latest from director Christopher Nolan (The Dark Knight, Memento) sweeps in on a building wave of expectation. It’s something to do with thieves stealing ideas from dreams. I think. I know it stars the stellar lineup of Leonardo DiCaprio, Ellen Page, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Marion Cotillard and Ken Watanabe. PG-13. Movies 12. (7/22)

Inside Job: Documentary filmmaker Charles Ferguson (No End in Sight) turns his sharp eye on the financial crisis in this incisive, highly praised film. “This is a work of sustained, nonpartisan rage,” said The Boston Globe. PG-13. 108 min. Bijou. (11/11)

Kids Are All Right, The: The latest film from Lisa Cholodenko (High Art, Laurel Canyon) stars Julianne Moore and Annette Bening as a lesbian couple whose two kids (the charming Mia Wasikwoska and Josh Hutcherson) get in contact with the man who was the sperm donor for both of them (Mark Ruffalo). Though Bening’s Nic gets the short end of the character stick, Kids is for the most part a warm and complex story about a loving, complicated, modern family. R. 104 min. David Minor Theater. (8/5)

Megamind: Evil Megamind (Will Farrell) spends years trying to conquer Metro City — only to find himself in a very weird position when a) he succeeds, and b) another, much nastier, villain arrives. With the voices of Tina Fey and Brad Pitt. PG. 96 min. Cinemark. VRC Stadium 15.

Morning Glory: The charming and often underused Rachel McAdams stars as a terminally perky news producer who tries to revitalize a failing morning show by bringing on a serious news guy (Harrison Ford). PG-13. 102 min. Cinemark. VRC Stadium 15. (11/18)

Next Three Days, The: Russell Crowe and Elizabeth Banks costar as a husband and wife who are struggling three years into the wife’s sentence — for a murder she didn’t commit. When the last appeal is denied, hubby decides to break his lady out. Seriously, who writes this stuff? And who then pays to make it into an actual film? PG-13. 122 min. Cinemark. VRC Stadium 15.

Other Guys, The: Will Ferrell and Mark Wahlberg are paper-pusher policemen who try to cop the style of their bad-ass, attention-grabbing colleagues (Dwayne Johnson and Samuel L. Jackson). Things go poorly. With Steve Coogan, Eva Mendes and Michael Keaton. 107 min. PG13. Movies 12.

Red: Bruce Willis, Helen Mirren (that’s DAME Helen Mirren to you, punk), Morgan Freeman and John Malkovich are former CIA agents currently being targeted for assassination because of all the old secrets they know. Other than the badass women in the cast (Mirren and Mary-Louise Parker), one key thing makes this (hopefully) worth seeing: The foulmouthed, evilly creative Warren Ellis wrote the comic book on which the film is based. PG-13. 111 min. Cinemark. VRC Stadium 15.

Resident Evil: Afterlife: The latest in the videogame-based series finds Alice (Milla Jovovich) still trying to help survivors of the virus that turned most people into undead creatures. Rumor is L.A. is safe, but maybe not so much. (Hey, isn’t that the plot of Zombieland?) R. 90 min. Movies 12.

Salt: Angelina Jolie is a badass again. What more could you need to know? She’s a sleeper spy! She has to prove she’s not trying to assassinate the president! The movie will surely have even more exclamation points than this small paragraph! PG13. 99 min. Movies 12. (7/29)

Scott Pilgrim vs. the World: Michael Cera stars in Edgar Wright (Shaun of the Dead)’s adaptation of Brian Lee O’Malley’s charming comic book about a boy who has to defeat his new girlfriend’s seven evil exes. With Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Chris Evans, Brandon Routh, Anna Kendrick and many more perfectly cast twentysomethings. PG-13. 113 min. David Minor Theater. (8/19)

Secretariat: Diane Lane stars in Disney’s all-American version of the story of Secretariat, the horse that won the 1973 Triple Crown. “A family film about one of the fastest racehorses in history, Secretariat stumbles along beneath the weight of leaden life lessons,” says The Wall Street Journal. Cinemark. 

Skyline: There’s, like, aliens? Sucking people into the sky? Except some people! And they’re gonna fight back! Look, I love sci-fi, and I got nothin’ here. PG-13. 100 min. Cinemark. VRC Stadium 15.

Sorcerer’s Apprentice, The: College kid Dave (the charming Jay Baruchel) finds himself swept into a battle between good and evil (I assume; these things always involve such battles) when a sorcerer (Nicolas Cage in a terrifying wig) crosses his path. PG. Movies 12.

Switch, The: I don’t care how charming Jason Bateman is. This movie’s premise is deeply, deeply fucked up: Jennifer Aniston plays Kassie, who decides to become a mom with the help of a sperm donor; Bateman’s the chucklehead friend who decides, drunkenly, to swap his own, uh, donation for the selected feller’s. That is so not cute. PG-13. 100 min. Movies 12.

Town, The: Ben Affleck’s second directorial effort is getting solid reviews; the film, based on a novel by Chuck Hogan, follows a group of Boston thieves, the FBI agent hoping to catch them, and the woman who might be able to turn them in. With Rebecca Hall, Jon Hamm, Jeremy Renner, Chris Cooper and Pete Postlethwaite. R. 124 min. Movies 12. (9/23)

Toy Story 3: Andy’s all grown up, and his toys — Woody (Tom Hanks), Buzz Lightyear (Tim Allen), Jessie (Joan Cusack) and the rest — face an uncertain future in the third Toy Story film, which has some, but not all, of the charms of the first. Movies 12. (6/24)

Unstoppable: Captain Kirk and Denzel Washington must reluctantly team up to stop a REALLY BAD TRAIN. I mean, it’s not the train’s fault it’s full of EVIL CHEMICALS and BARRELLING TOWARD CIVILIZATION, right? Can we add a bus full of innocent kids to this scenario? YES WE CAN. Thanks, Tony Scott. PG-13. 98 min. Cinemark. VRC Stadium 15.

 

MOVIE THEATERS
Use the links provided below for specific show times.

Bijou Art Cinemas
Bijou Theater 686-2458 | 492 E. 13th

David Minor Theater
David Minor Theater and Pub 762-1700 | 180 E. 5th

Regal Cinemas
VRC Stadium 15 342-6536 | Valley River Center

Cinemark Theaters
Movies 12 741-1231 | Gateway Mall
Cinemark 17 741-1231 | Gateway Mall